Jan reported that she had talked with Richard Calica (chair of Expert Panel) regarding Best Practices and SACWIS POS staffing. Richard thought his information was different than that presented to the SACWIS Advisory Committee; he thought the Best Practices documents had not yet been developed and this was the work to be done by the POS staff (along with DCFS staff). Don noted that Richard Calica does not have the documents that were distributed to the SACWIS Advisory Committee at last month's meeting.
Don informed the committee that he had made a presentation on the POS staffing issue to the CCA board. DCFS full-time staff are expected to join the SACWIS project between mid-April and mid-May.
Don re-stated the role of Richard Calica and the Expert Panel. Mr. Calica and Director McDonald determined who would be on the panel for the review of the investigation piece of Best Practices. The Director wants the panel to bring in experts and do research as necessary to review the Best Practices drafts, point out glaring errors or omissions and identify other areas which may need revisions. Don noted that the current documents are subject to change as child welfare work changes over the next 2-3 years.
The Expert Panel is an external group to Best Practices. The internal group will be finishing the drafts and giving them to the Expert Panel for review. There is not much opportunity for POS input to the investigation document. Don acknowledged there was no POS involvement in the Best Practices draft documents distributed at last month's SACWIS Advisory Committee meeting.
Sue Grady asked how we could get the POS involved now, considering the time constraints of Best Practices/SACWIS are still there? Don noted than one issue in the POS involvement is similar to a DCFS issue: How to get POS staff involved but still retain the private agency perspective. This is similar to recruiting expert DCFS field staff: How to get expert field staff involved but retain that expertise when the person is no longer working in the field. Don did note that the POS staff involved in Best Practices and those involved in SACWIS would be the same people.
George asked how the Catholic Charities staff could be involved in the review process of the investigative piece of best practices? Don stated the use of subject matter experts (SME's) will allow/require the involvement of many more staff than just the full-time people. SME's will probably work on the specific projects for 4-6 weeks.
In response to a question from Sue, Don noted that there is no set ratio of POS:DCFS staff on the project. Don hopes to have DCFS staffing finalized by the next SACWIS Advisory Committee meeting.
 | Technical Support Position � see below.
| Relationship of POS positions with liaison and with SACWIS Advisory Committee � Sam noted that there will be one POS member on each functional team, but there has been no talk of the relationship of these private agency
representatives and the Private Agency Liaison. It was noted that it is very important to keep the SACWIS Advisory Committee members informed of issues and progress at the functional design level.
| SACWIS Advisory Committee members will develop a list of concerns to present to the Department in the area of private agency representation, relationships, and communications. Some of these include the need to communicate to the private agencies within the constraints of the Department's External Communication review process, and the need to have focused staff on the project. Also, the concern about whether a specific staff member would even know the concerns or implications of a decision on differing agencies. There is a concern over the value of the limited number of POS representatives and their input to the project. In addition to a list of concerns, committee members were asked for recommendations on a communication process. There was further discussion on the technical support position, does it still exist and is there a continuing need to have the position? Committee members thought the person would deal with technical issues and help the liaison with POS technical questions. He/she could answer technical assistance questions and help agencies assess their needs as well as be a valuable resource in the impact analysis process. Sam pointed out the QA vendor will also provide technical assistance to the private agencies. Even though the position was rolled into the proposed POS positions it is still possible to have the position filled, according to Sam. Jan will look at the job posting and get back to Sam with a recommendation. |
Dennis noted that the FY02 and FY03 budgeted costs would be approximately the same with a reduction in FY04; operations from then one should be about $33 million/year. The large-item breakout of ongoing operations is ISD-$12 million, Getronics-$5-6 million, data lines-$7-8 million, ongoing training-$1.2 million. Operations is part of the indirect cost plan funded at 16% FFP; no FFP can be claimed after post-implementation of the SACWIS application.
Enterprise equipment replacement is part of the operations cost, but is actually four fiscal years away; this is not a "SACWIS" cost but is an operations cost. The $33 million includes equipment replacement; equipment replacement is considered part of the operations plan. It is noted that SACWIS has not had general appropriation dollars. Federal funding (FFP) has to be collected with the hopes that the legislature will appropriate the funds back to the project.
Sue asked about budget money for the POS agencies. Dennis responded as follows:
| $6.2 million for equipment, including initial office automation training
| POS staff are in the project management line
| Data lines are included in operations
| On-going training
| SACWIS application training
| Application development costs
| The $8.8 million is that number from the current bureau of the budget proposal for private agency equipment
| |
Greg asked about ISD and its current dedication to SACWIS. Sam responded that currently 50% of ISD is support for SACWIS equipment/infrastructure. Staff will transfer to the SACWIS application, and technical support will eventually go to SACWIS, also. Production control (reports and printing) will also eventually transfer to SACWIS.
The POS support is part of the vendor requirements; the $8.8 million (for POS equipment) includes support at the same level that support is now provided for DCFS staff. Most support is provided by the Consolidated Support Desk (CSD) but DCFS also has ten MSS staff in the regions to help users.
The SACWIS Advisory Committee members requested more enhanced funding than is currently being proposed. Jan noted that SACWIS is a major project; as things are developed and implemented at the Department the same consideration needs to be given to the private agencies. A very complex project with so little money (for POS agencies) does not make for a successful SACWIS implementation. Success at the private agency level is crucial to the overall success of the State's SACWIS.